Beach combing - heroes of our time?

TiggerToo

TiggerToo

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Having seen photos of the planking lining some of the beaches along the S Coast, I was wondering why all the fuss about beach combers: I'd naively thought they should be honoured and encouraged for helping with the cleanup, not discouraged and threatened with lawsuits, fine and imprisonment as if they were some sort of scum-of-the-earth.

Pity I am not local/don't have time: I'd love to help with the cleanup myself!
 
I think beachcomers could more truthfully be considered more Salt of the Earth.. If there was a national need for assistance involving the sea, like Dunkirk, I'm sure they, not to mention the forumites would be the first to fireup the donk and cast off.
 
I think we should hand in any old piece of wood we find on the beach to the local police station and get into the true spirit of the Blair created police state, they'd soon get very pissed off.
 
I found the two definitions recently plus one for Lagan which means items moored anchored or tied so as to be recoverable later.

1/Wreck is defined in section 255 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 as including "jetsam, flotsam, lagan and derelict found in or on the shores of the sea or any tidal water"

2/On recovering wreck material, the finder should declare it promptly (where possible within 28 days) to the Receiver of Wreck giving a description of the wreck and will usually be asked to hold it to the Receiver's order. A salvor acting properly under the law is entitled to a salvage award.

So, as usual, correct proceedures are in place.
 
A lot of the fuss probably stems from the Napoli incident, when "Middle England" was outraged by the sight of "The great unwashed" breaking into beached containers and helping themselves to packets of nappies and dog biscuits...........

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I think we should hand in any old piece of wood we find on the beach to the local police station and get into the true spirit of the Blair created police state, they'd soon get very pissed off.

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Fantastic idea. Don't forget to ask for a receipt
 
I think that's much more justifiable than sending sales clerks at Compass round the bend. I wonder if you can download forms?

ps it says on the radio police have closed the beach at Worthing. I wonder which power they are using to do that? Anti terror act?
 
Presumably then everyone would be much happier to see insurance premiums rocket as insurers would know they have no chance of ever recovering anything.

Perhaps I'm entitled to take my neighbour's BMW on the grounds that I found it on his drive?
 
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Presumably then everyone would be much happier to see insurance premiums rocket as insurers would know they have no chance of ever recovering anything.

Perhaps I'm entitled to take my neighbour's BMW on the grounds that I found it on his drive?

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what about the premiums going up because peeps as holeing their hulls by sailing into the piles of wood floating in the Channel?

No, but you'd be entitled to salvage the BMW if it were washed up on one of our proud Country's beaches.
 
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Even better, according to freewind, anything found on a beach and not belonging there could be from a wreck so must be declared. Let's all declare everything found on a beach to the receiver of wrecks!

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Now is the time to ask who knows their marine salvage law.

The Ice Prince owner's contractors are heaping the timber on the Sussex beaches up above the high water line, presumably to avoid it washing out to sea again. However, once the timber is above the high water line, surely marine law no longer applies? Isn't the moved timber now on Her Majesty's shoreline and should not her loyal subjects be removing such timber to clean up her shoreline on her behalf?
 
Extended metaphors - doncha love them?

I think if you found your neighbour's BMW in a field, recovered it, let him know where it was and made a small charge for recovery and storage you'd be acting reasonably. In any case you'd be doing exactly what the police do with recovered vehicles. Surely you're not suggesting our noble boys, gays, lesbians and girls in blue (as the more PC among us should refer to er, PCs now) would act illegally?
 
My white van has been fuelled up again if you go on youtube and search on surreyarborist and you will see what i have done with recycled timber with thanks from BMW. Look at the composter vid. Check my favs whilst you are there cranky steel boat on a day sail good music. Just need some more to finish off the shed extension.
 
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I think we should hand in any old piece of wood we find on the beach to the local police station and get into the true spirit of the Blair created police state, they'd soon get very pissed off.

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It has occurred to me that a well organised campaign of civil OBEDIANCE (not disobediance) would have a massive impact on the Govt - Isn't it time folk started co-operating and reporting the Nulabour "crimes" to the relevent authorities anyway? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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I found the two definitions recently plus one for Lagan which means items moored anchored or tied so as to be recoverable later.

1/Wreck is defined in section 255 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 as including "jetsam, flotsam, lagan and derelict found in or on the shores of the sea or any tidal water"

2/On recovering wreck material, the finder should declare it promptly (where possible within 28 days) to the Receiver of Wreck giving a description of the wreck and will usually be asked to hold it to the Receiver's order. A salvor acting properly under the law is entitled to a salvage award.

So, as usual, correct proceedures are in place.

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I have already posted some of this in The Lounge, but the receiver of wrecks seems to be making up the law on the hoof.

On the news tonight she stated that anyone attempting to remove any wood will be arrested, but salvage law is quite clear, in that anyone may remove slavage as long as they inform the RoW within the statutory period.

As you can read in this Telegragh article. it says, "The removal of items from the beach was legal as long as salvors filed forms declaring their salvage to Sophia Exelby, the Receiver of Wreck. She has now started writing to the salvors telling them they can keep the BMW parts."

So, no one has been or will be prosecuted following Napoli.

But it still needs to be ascertained under which law the RoW is threatening prosecution for removing salvage from the beach.
 
I can't understand this undercurrent of "the government stopping our right to nick things" mentality. IF people take things from the beach, and report them, no problem. As people have said, no-one was prosecuted from the Napoli if they reported what they had. There were, however, a number of cautions (not a prosecution) for people traced by number plate, etc who removed items and did not declare them.

As for what happens when the wreck is above MHWS, it becomes a matter for the littoral owner - e.g. a farmer, you if your garden goes down to the sea, or more usually the Crown Estate. Still doesn't automatically become your property though.
 
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I can't understand this undercurrent of "the government stopping our right to nick things" mentality. IF people take things from the beach, and report them, no problem. As people have said, no-one was prosecuted from the Napoli if they reported what they had. There were, however, a number of cautions (not a prosecution) for people traced by number plate, etc who removed items and did not declare them.

As for what happens when the wreck is above MHWS, it becomes a matter for the littoral owner - e.g. a farmer, you if your garden goes down to the sea, or more usually the Crown Estate. Still doesn't automatically become your property though.

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I never said people should take salvage for personal use. I am querying this law making on the hoof, which started with the plods using the Terrorism Act to stop people heckling at party conferences and taking pictures of the M4 motorway for a college project.

Now we have the RoW doing it. Either we have a law or we don't, but please allow me to voice my disapproval at people who apply laws incorrectly, or simply make them up as they go along.

The law as it stands has already proved to be ineffective, or they would have prosecuted some after the Napoli wreck as they had all the registration numbers and even TV news footage of the actual people. Why is it you can make off with BMW motorcycles without trouble, but planks of wood require threats which cannot by law be made or enforced?
 
I don't condone theft but neither do I think our rights should be taken away on a whim. There is no doubt that the powers that be wish to control us more closely and this trend to my mind should be resisted. The law of salvage came about as a result of the simple need to recover anything within the grasp of the sea very quickly or it was lost for ever. The benefits of salvage are that something can be recovered before it's a total loss or before it becomes a hazard to other vessels. As far as I know the sea hasn't changed its nature a great deal in the last few thousand years and almost any man made object still won't last too long at the bottom of the sea or on shore for very long.
 
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